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> Afaik some biologists even think that the evolution of intelligence was rather unlikely and would not necessarily happen again under the same circumstances as
by webmaven 5y ago
> Afaik some biologists even think that the evolution of intelligence was rather unlikely and would not necessarily happen again under the same circumstances as on earth.
Hmm. Can you provide a pointer to those biologists?
AFAIK, high intelligence has arisen more than once on Earth (Hominoids, Cetaceans, Octopuses), so I'm somewhat skeptical of that claim, but perhaps they're construing intelligence more narrowly (ie. only Homo Sapiens qualifies).
- jjjdjjddddsfsd 5y agoJared Diamond talks about it in his books (don't remember which ones specifically). OK, granted, he is not officially a biologist, I guess, but at least a prominent writer on Evolution Theory.
- rubatuga 5y agoWell that has a prior on life even existing in the first place
- webmaven 5y ago> Well that has a prior on life even existing in the first place True, the question of intelligent life evolving can be construed as either: "Given that life exists, what is the probability of intelligence evolving?" Or: "Given that the universe exists, what is the probability of life arising and evolving intelligence?" Both are actually interesting and important questions (cf. the Drake Equation and Fermi Paradox), but I am pretty comfortable asserting that in the context of this conversation the former interpretation is more apropos.